The Ministry Of Public Works Will Build 56 Sabo Dams To Anticipate Lava Floods On Mount Marapi

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works (PU) will gradually build 56 Sabo dams in the Mount Marapi area, West Sumatra.

Meanwhile, sabo dam is a debris flow control building or lahar built across the river channel to hold, accommodate and stream some material or sediment.

Quoted from the upload on the official Instagram account @kementerianpu, Thursday, May 29, in the early stages, 6 Sabo dams will be built in Tanah Datar Regency and 3 in Agam Regency.

"Sabo dam will later protect 9,565 hectares of agricultural land, residential areas inhabited by 27,625 people and 2.1 kilometers of national roads from disaster risk due to Marapi's galodo," wrote the Instagram account.

Later, Sabo dam will be built in a graded manner in the middle of a dam, so that it can drain water while stemming sediment or volcanic material deposits.

If the dam is unable to withstand all debris flow, it will be missed through the top (overtopping), so as to minimize the risk of downstream lava floods.

For your information, Mount Marapi, located in Agam and Tanah Datar Regencies, is one of the most active volcanoes in Sumatra.

During high rainfall, Marapi's volcanic material is like ash and rock mixed with rainwater flowing down the mountain slope at high speed. This rain lava flood incident by local residents is known as a galodo.

In May 2024, the Marapi galodo caused 61 fatalities, 11 people were missing and 40 people were injured. This disaster also cut off a number of road and bridge accesses and damaged hundreds of hectares of agriculture, public facilities and residents' houses.